


wedding dress

by ohtumns



Category: CLC (Band), NCT (Band), WAYV
Genre: Angst and Romance, Best Friends, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-31
Updated: 2019-05-31
Packaged: 2020-04-05 05:06:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19041730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohtumns/pseuds/ohtumns
Summary: he was there through it all but he's a step too late now





	wedding dress

**Author's Note:**

> i did not include any name for the female character so you can imagine anyone you like! but frankly, lucas/elkie is a pair i've always wanted to write so i thought of her while writing this. also, apologies for the cliche title

He breathes out heavily, the stale scent of his cigarette breath masking together with the cold autumn air as he leans against the car door casually. Taking in one last puff, he flicks the leftover stick lightly toward the ground and squashes it with the expensive heel of his dress shoe. He then takes out his car key to unlock the passenger’s window before ducking down to reach in for the cologne he knows he has stashed inside the dashboard.

 

After fumbling blindly for a few minutes, his hand wraps around the familiar glass bottle which he hurriedly takes out and gives himself a couple of good sprays. He throws it back carelessly onto the car seat and rolls the window back up before straightening down his crisp suit. He had it tailor made but somehow it feels tighter now than when he first tried it on. He doesn’t know if that is the reason for him having trouble breathing all of a sudden, but he knows that if he told her about it, she would just say _to cut down the ciggs_.

 

He does not want to go in there.

 

He wants to stay out here where it is safer – where his heart would be safe.

 

He wants to stay in the car and closes his eyes, so he doesn’t see it happening. If he doesn’t see it, he can pretend that nothing is happening, and they can go back to how things have always been between them. He can pretend that she is in love with him just as much as he is with her and nobody else exists between them.

 

He can pretend that she isn’t about to walk down the aisle with someone else. A man who is not him.

 

But he also knows that if he doesn’t go in there, she will never forgive him. And he did promise her – that he will be there with her every step of the way.

 

Even if his heart has to break with each step she takes further away from him.

 

 

 

 

“Are you late because you have been smoking?”

 

Her expression is annoyed, and her tone sounds frazzled, but he doesn’t notice any of that. His eyes simply takes in the beautiful sight of her in the white wedding dress complemented with the flower crown on her head. He’s always thought she’s the prettiest girl he has ever seen, but right then, she is just so devastatingly beautiful it actually makes his heart ache even more. He didn’t realise he wants this so much – he wants her _like this_ for himself so much.

 

His jaw hardens as he clenches his fists tightly to hold himself back from touching her. Because he knows that if he does touch her, he won’t be able to ever let go of her.

 

“Don’t lie to me, Wong Yukhei. I can smell you from a hundred steps away. And I heard _Diana_ when you pulled up in my driveway fifteen minutes ago.” _Diana_ is his car which he had bought together with her a few years back. She never understood his loyalty to the car which makes weird noises after about an hour of driving and is always having trouble starting, but she still trusts him enough to drive her around in the car, and even agreed to go on a road trip with him even though she kept uttering prayers he has never heard her practice ever before.

 

 _Diana_ is one of the key witnesses to their memorable friendship and also his heartbreaking one-sided love. Every time after sending her home, he would sit in his car and stare at their photos forlornly or reminisce about their day like the pathetic guy he is, for not being able to tell his best friend how much he loves her.

 

It was also while driving _Diana_ that she had told him she would be marrying her boyfriend of two years which simultaneously shattered his entire world.

 

He’d always thought they’d survive anything. Even when she first introduced her fiancé (then boyfriend) to him, somewhere in his heart he believed she would come back to him. She always did.

 

He was there for her when she called him that night crying after her college boyfriend broke up with her over phone. He immediately rushed over after receiving her text that she had just seen the guy she was dating from work on a date with another woman. He also stayed up with her all night when her first love suddenly came back into her life, only to leave her for the girl who had cheated on him.

 

He was there through it all and witnessed her every heartbreak and tears. He was also the first person she called to tell him about getting a job offer at her dream workplace. He was the only one who attended her graduation ceremony when her parents couldn’t make it. He did not care about embarrassing himself as he stood up and cheered her name loudly while clapping his hands so excitedly the whole auditorium practically shook. And he never missed a single birthday – no matter if he was occupied during the day, he would make it a point to see her before midnight, so she could blow out a candle after making wishes she would never tell him about.

 

He has spent half his life with her that he can’t imagine one without her.

 

Deep down, he had always known he has loved her more than just a friend for the longest time. But he was never brave enough to confess his true feelings in fear of losing her for good.

 

He knows he can make her happier than anyone ever could, but there is always this fear that she doesn’t feel the same way as him.

 

“I can’t believe you’re smoking even on my wedding day! You know I would very much prefer you not killing yourself on one of the most important days of my life.”

 

“What’s the most important day then?”

 

She whirls around so quickly that her flower crown almost flies off. Instinctively, he takes a step back.

 

“Is that really the most appropriate thing to ask me right now? Firstly, you’re late to your best friend’s wedding. And secondly, for some inexplicable reason only a weird dude like you would have – you have been keeping unusually quiet ever since you stepped foot inside my room. I actually expected my mum to be marching up the stairs by now shushing you to soften down. Are you okay?”

 

He forces out a smile that suddenly seems like a such a burdensome task for him to do.

 

“Why wouldn’t I be? I get to witness my beautiful best friend finally getting married to the love of her life – “ the words felt like bile in his throat, he had to cough them out. “I just didn’t get enough sleep yesterday, worried about what your clumsy self might do today to embarrass yourself in front of all those people.”

 

“Wong Yukhei!” she gasps and lifts up the hem of her dress to stomp over angrily toward him. She looks so small and fragile even in her high heels, it makes him want to swoop her up in his arms and take her away where nobody could find them.

 

“How dare you curse me on the day I’m supposed to – “ but she never got to finish her sentence because all of a sudden, one of her heels caught the tail of her dress and causes her to lose her balance. It honestly feels like one of those cheesy scenes from the dramas he’s always making fun of her for watching but at that moment, he finally understands the purpose of a hero in a drama.

 

He wants to be her hero. He wants to be the leading man of her happily ever after.

 

With one swift movement, he rushes forward and catches her easily with his arm. He wants to laugh at the absurdity they’re in but all that he can see is his entire world staring back at him as she grabs onto his arms tightly for dear life. They have been best of friends for so long and have shared countless of hugs, but nothing comes close to this intimate moment neither of them were expecting to happen.

 

Slowly, he eases her up, but he doesn’t let go. His hand remains firm around her waist and it is only after a while that he realises she hasn’t let go of him either. He is not able to take his gaze of her and apparently, neither can she. They’re only inches apart now, the closest they have ever been and slowly, he reaches up to touch her face with a slightly trembling hand. She doesn’t say anything or make a move to get away, so he takes that as a sign to lean in closer to her. And somehow with the heels, he doesn’t have to bend down so much from his tall height to match her petite frame.

 

Her breath was soothingly warm against his skin and he wonders if she can hear his heart pounding insanely from within his walls. She closes her eyes then, inviting him to seal whatever gap that is left between them.

 

Before he knows it, his lips are brushing lightly against hers. He pulls back almost immediately, afraid that she might’ve changed her mind, but she did not leave him hanging for long as she tiptoes slightly and presses her lips against him without another word.

 

He sees it then – in his mind, the very first time he met her. She was alone, and he was surrounded by a lot of friends. Yet, he ditched them for her just so she wouldn’t eat lunch alone in the middle of a very busy cafeteria.

 

His hands trail up her back as his fingers meet the little buttons on the back of dress, while he deepens their kiss.

 

He sees her in the black dress she had worn to prom, looking totally uncomfortable because of her lack of feminine clothes. But he remembers that night very clearly, because it was the first time she had taken his breath away and no other girl had the same effect on him after that night. He recalls their first slow dance together, with her squirming awkwardly in his embrace before gradually losing herself to the music, as she rested her head comfortably against his chest like it was always meant to be hers.

 

He feels her fingers brushing his neatly styled hair as he presses her even closer to his chest, not wanting even an inch of gap between them as he continues to kiss her like how he has dreamed of for the longest period of time. He’s had dates and flings and kisses, but nothing feels like this. She tastes like the sunset after rain and the first snow after an autumn breeze. And he knows that he will never stop wanting this.

 

He sees her under the stars, that longing look in her eyes as they lay together on the rooftop of her apartment. He never mustered the courage to ask her what was it she wanted so much because he was afraid it was something he couldn’t give her. He feared disappointing her because he knows she deserves nothing but the best.

 

He is lost, he is drowning, and he wishes time would just stop for the two of them. He doesn’t want to open his eyes because he is afraid of what he might see as soon as he opens them.

 

She is the first to pull away.

 

“ _Yukhei_ ,” she whispers, her voice so soft he almost missed it if it wasn’t for the fact it was so deafeningly silent in the room. “I’m sorry.”

 

And all at once, he knows that her book is ending, and she has found the hero of her happily ever after.

 

And it is not him.

 

He holds her in his arms for a while more and presses his forehead against her gently. He nods his understanding, but he wonders if she can hear his heart shattering excruciatingly within his walls.

 

He couldn’t lift his face to meet her eyes and thankfully, she understands. He feels her soft lips against his cold skin as she leaves one last kiss on his cheek. He might’ve squeezed her fingers a little too tight than he intended, but if it hurt her, she doesn’t say it.

 

She slowly loosens her hand from his grasp. She probably waited for him to look at her, but he couldn’t.

 

He couldn’t look at her because this time, she is never coming back to him.

 

 

 

 


End file.
